Hungarian symphony

A massive investment in culture is putting Budapest on the map for music, art and film production

- ANDREW EAMES

Exterior view of Budapest's House of Music at night

Robert Henke looks more like an academic than a musician. As he turned to accept the applause of the assembled audience he seemed faintly bemused to find himself on stage. His performance - the electronic utterances of a battalion of 1980s computers, orchestrated by Henke from a keyboard while sitting in his office chair - was a long way from being a traditional concert. But then, the glass-walled auditorium in the brand new Japanese-designed House of Music in Budapest is certainly a long way from being a conventional concert venue.

For a start, its roof is organically shaped and looks like a giant mushroom with holes poked in it to let the light in and trees grow through. Under that roof, besides the auditorium with its planned 500-plus live musical performances a year, it also has a sound dome where you can lie back on beanbags and bathe in a compelling combination of sound and images. Below ground in the mushroom's roots, there's a comprehensive exhibition that charts the development of music all the way from the drumming of early man to digital compositions in the mode of Henke, with all sorts of magically innovative interactions along the way.]

If that is not enough to keep all members of the family happy, there are musical stepping stones outside, for making music and blowing off steam.

All in all it's a very impressive structure, with a pretty hefty price tag (€80 million). But it is just one element in a whopping €1 billion investment that the Hungarian government is making in its Liget project, all constructed within the confines of Budapest's city park. It includes a giant new Ethnographic Museum, currently nearly finished and looking like a huge skateboard: ramp. Eventually there will also be the New National Gallery to house the combined modern collections of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery.